WALL STREET Uncertainty in market after record week

Press, 23 February 1987, Page 25

WALL STREET Uncertainty in market after record week

NZPA-Reuter New York Wall Street stocks closed mixed on Friday amid uncertainty over interest rates and the dollar ahead of the meeting of Finance Ministers in Paris. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.85 points to 2235.24. The index rose 51.89 points in the holiday-shortened week. “Decision makers in this market appear to be waiting for the weekend,” a trader, Mr Peter Fumiss, of Smith Barney, said. The Finance Ministers are expected to discuss ways to stabilise the ailing United States dollar.

A half-point cut in the Japanese discount rate failed to encourage the bond market or stock in-

vestors. “It was treated pretty much with a yawn,” said Mr Furniss. Though most analysts expect nothing new from the meeting and doubt the Finance Ministers will be able to engineer a plan to stabilise the dollar, the possibility of a surprise announcement kept many investors cautious.

A market strategist, Mr Larry Wachtel, of Prudential Bache Securities, said trading fell into the same pattern as the previous two sessions.

Tuesday’s record 54point leap in the Dow was “an explosion that could not be sustained,” he said. “So, for the past few sessions the market has been correcting in a very healthy way. It is a sideways rotation from the leaders into the

laggards.” On Thursday, stock prices moved higher as the Dow Jones industrial average hit another record after a session of steady profit-taking. The Dow Jones rose 6.46 points to close at 2244.09, topping the previous record closes of 2237.49 on Tuesday and 2237.63 on Wednesday. Analysts said the market had continued to digest some of its sizable gains since the beginning of the year, and, in particular, since its record 54.14-point leap on Tuesday.

Early in the day, the Commerce Department reported that the nation’s gross national product, the broadest measure of economic health, grew at a sluggish 1.3 per cent annual rate in the final three months of 1986, weaker than had been expected.

Analysts said traders ignored the report, looking instead to prospects for greater strength — translated into higher corporate earnings — later in the year.

They also said the market was unaffected by morning Congressional testimony by the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, Mr Paul Volcker, who outlined the board’s money targets and economic outlook for 1987 before the Senate Banking

Committee, and by the Treasury Secretary, Mr James Baker, who answered questions on the dollar before the Senate Finance Committee.

Prices of a selection of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, April 20 (in points equal to SUSI).—

AlcanAlu 37%, Alcoa. 43%, AmeradHes 28%, AmExpress 69%, AmMotors 3%, Armco 8%, Asarco 20, Atlßichfield 67%, ATT 23%, BethStl 8%, Boeing 52%, Borden 57%, CBS 155%, Chevron 48%, Chrysler 49%, Citicorp 58%, ClarkEqp 24%, Coca Cola 45%, Colgate 463%, ContlData 293%, Crane 44%, Digital 153%, Dome Mines 10%, Dow Chem 75%, DuPont 100%, East Kodak 80, Englhrd, 37%, Exxon 81%, Firestone' 35%, Fluor 15%, Ford 77%, FrptMcmor 21%, Gencorp 77%, Gen Dynamic 763%, Gen Elect 101, GM 76%, Goodyear 55, Greyhound 35%, Grumman 30%, Gulfßes 13%, HJHeinz 48, Haliburton 31%, Homestake 28%, Honeywell 70%, IBM 139%, INCO 15%, ITT 62, JnsnJnsn 84%, KMart 59, KaiserAlu 16%, Kraftinc 56%, Lockheed 53%, MMM 130%, Manville 2%, Mattel 12, McdonDoug 79%, Mcdonalds 75, MerrylLynch 45%, Mobil 43, Monsanto 77%, Navistar 7%, NCR 62%, NewmMin 79%, Occidental 32, Pfizer 74%, PhelDodge 29%, PhilipsPe 12%, Polaroid 80%, Raytheon 783%, ReynMetal 54%, RoylDPet 103%, SOhlo 56, Schlumberger 38%, Seagrams 683%, Searsßoe 53%, ShellTr 64%, Texaco 34%, Texaslnst 159%, UNOCAL 30%, UnionCarb 26%, Unisys 108%, USX 24%, Walt Dis 59, WestgEle 64, Wool worth 48%, Xerox 74%.